recharged and ready to go

its been a long time since i've gone on a vacation and didn't think about work or home. the physical and mental break was the best recharge in recent history and to be surrounded by so much beauty and love was the bestest way to end summer 2010.

let's face it, july was hell - too many decisions had to be made about work, house and home, coupled with amazing trips and visits, and well, i ran myself down. i didn't care much about my performance at work and i think it showed. i had to leave a flat that was my one and only  home in london thus far. so a visit home was in order. nothing settles me more than the rockie mountains, having a fire in the back yard, getting behind the wheel and road trippin' with some amazing tunes, seeing old friends, and of course, spending time with my family.

so, what did i do these past two weeks....well let me tell ya!

it was a great surprise to see gina, isabell, madison and jonah waiting for me at the airport, although....they were too busy indulging in their tim hortons to see me coming out of the gate and as i was pounding the number to gina's mobile on mine, i heard the magic call of 'dodo'...so clearly, madison was looking out for me! lucky. ha ha. it was so warm when we landed and without having had any sleep on the thomas cook flight (never again), the only thing for me to do was jump into the thick of things. we head to gina's place, dumped my stuff, and head for the back yard to clean up a summer's worth of jungle growth. with both gina and me gone, that garden went wild!

that was also when i had my first (of so many) bbqs. sigh. needless to say the trip home has boosted my vitamin D and iron levels. haha

the next day was spent with the kiddies again as we head to the outdoor pool down the street from gina's. i forgot how much fun it was to swim in an outdoor pool, mainly because as a kid, i practically lived at the pool in the 'Pass. we also spent the day preparing for our guest...the lovely dee from ireland. i was uber excited about showing someone from the UK what it was like to be me in canada.

i had a great half day at work (not what you think!) with the gals, and we head out for a great lunch before i hopped into my rented red corolla (not that great) to the airport and pick up dee. instead of doing the day by day report of what we did, i'll give you a few highlights.

• shopping! the first day dee came in it was a bit chilly mainly because the sun was blocked by this huge smokey cloud from the fires one province over. it would block some of our sun during the 2 week trip but for the most part, we had very few cooler days. this first day was one of them so we head to market mall where we took advantage of the strength of the pound versus the canadian dollar. i felt like i was shopping for back to school outfits, but crazily enough, they didn't have much in terms of fall/winter fashions. weird.
• chillin' with the seniors - dee and i went to visit my mom for an overnighter. my mom was so excited to meet dee because by the time she came to visit me in london, dee had already moved back to dublin. mom taught us how to make home made raviolli. mmmmmm, one of my fave dishes. she also attacked dee (since she's given up on gina and me) about finding a boyfriend and coming back to canada for her honeymoon. love it! she also gave dee one of the CNP blankets, which is funny as dee had bought her an avoca wool blanket herself. dee also got a bottle of oil of olay body wash from my mom's friend sue. how bizarre is that. she wants dee to remember her. oh my! but the highlight of the trip was not visiting the frank slide or allison lake, or walking up miner's path, but when we went for wing night with 5 seniors, one minor and me and dee. love it muchly! it cost dee and i $50 ...that's a whopping £30. amazing...we had 60 wings and several beers for that. how cheap! we were stars in their eyes. :)
• chris and martin - lucky for us, the boys had the first week of our holiday off as well so we went to theirs for dinner and we also drove out to canmore and banff to partake in a lovely overnight trip that included the banff hot springs, lunch (and wedding viewing) at the banff spring hotels, bow falls, and then to canmore where we rented (for an amazing price) a 2.5 bedroom condo with access to pool and hot tub. the pizza never tasted so good. we of course had to play with the camera like we always do, trying to see who was the best at sm-eyesing (you know, smiling with your eyes) or who had the best shocked look. i'd say martin and gina won those respectively. the best thing about this trip was our timing (we literally got what we wanted when we wanted, i love it when that happens) but the worst thing was the inability to find enough ATMs that would give me money. that was uber frustrating.
• greyson's birthday party - my cousin's munchkin turned 2 so we had a family party italian style. dear lord...the food! we had steaks, chicken strips, ribs, sausage (and that was just the meat), with zucchini fritters, cauliflower, broccoli, several salads, man...i can't even remember it all. and home made bread. a birthday cake, and mom made scalille. 
• a second trip to banff - dee and i had originally made these plans before the ones with chris and martin, so we tried to shake it up a bit. we got to johnson's canyon and hiked to the upper falls. what a lovely hike that was. then we zipped into town and took the gondola up to sulfer mountain and decided to walk over to the other peak to the ray station. the views were so stunning. we stayed the night at brewster's lodge (with a freaky experience for me the next morning as the dead bolt wouldn't open and my phone didn't work to call reception...amazing), and then went for the six course chef's surprise at le beaujolais with wine pearing. AH-MAY-ZEN. i had done this one before with gina and isabel, but amazingly enough, it was just as exciting the second time around. the next day dee went on a hike with a group to the valley of the 10 peaks and i met isabell and the kids for a day in banff. we all bought great touques for the winter. madison got an owl, jonah a hobbes hat, and i got cookie monster. i'll wear it to the next chelsea game i go to. 
• heritage park - wow, since they've redone the park it looks fantastic and we had a great time...mainly visiting the old houses and the food (of course - we're such foodies) like the candy shop with the caramel corn, and the bakery (cheese buns, butter tarts, cinnamon buns).
• restaurants - we took dee to as many as we could without breaking us or interfering with the bbq schedule. we hit up bonterra, winebar (owned by an old friend named Chris, it was good to see him...still hot after all these years. ha ha), diner deluxe, urban baker, le beaujolais, and dominoes. ha ha ha

and finally, if you know me well, you know my theory about every trip: you have a song, a saying and a mascot....

for this trip, we didn't have just one song but 6...that kept playing on the radio repeatedly like dynamite, dj got us fallin' in love, club can't handle me, love the way you lie, i like it and ghost. i really like ghost...

as for saying...we each had our own. dee loved mom's comment to her of 'find a boyfriend' and as for me, i think it was 'f*cking HSBC'.

and mascot...hard to say...maybe the second rental (a matrix)? there was so much going on that i don't think there was on clear winner.

so there you have it, the trip to canada in 2010. i was happy that dee got to see my other life because she has confirmed it for me. i do live two lives. so back to the london life for now, but the countdown is on. i'm aiming for a november 22 return. lots to do until then!

for pics of the vacation, visit my facebook page.